Broken Wings
by SafeKept
Summary: Naminé has been left broken by her captors, clinging only to the false memories she has given Sora and the hope that he is coming to save her. Xion, now holding more memories than she can stand, is determined to save the both of them. AU.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts

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><p>"Sora?"<p>

Sora looked around to the tiny, blond haired girl sitting at his feet, tracing shapes in the sand with her finger.

"Huh?" Sora said. Naminé paused. and bent forward to cover her pictures. Grinning, he asked, "What are you hiding?"  
>Naminé shook her head, and quickly rushed her hand to wipe out the pictures. She stopped, leaving her hand hovering a few centimetres above the floor, like something was stopping her. Sora ran over to look. As he leaned over to look, Naminé flung herself over it, and yelled, "Don't!"<p>

Sora had stopped grinning. "Naminé?" He said,. She didn't often sound like that, only when she was scared. He'd only heard her use that voice once before. He pulled slightly at a shoulder digging into the sand. "C'mon Naminé. …why can't I look!" He tried to laugh, but it got stuck somewhere in his throat.

Naminé looked around at him, grains of sand stuck to her face and hair. Her eyes had darkened; the whites were reddening, the lashes brown with damp, and the blue… less see-through, more intense.

She blinked, moisture collecting at the edges of her eyelids, and nodded. She pushed her palms to the floor. Sora watched her arms quiver for a moment before he realised that she was trying to push herself up. Gently, he said, "Here," and held a hand out to her. When she didn't take it he took her wrist and pulled her up. She didn't protest, but she didn't try to help.

His hand had slid down into hers as they stood up, and he let out a slight nervous laugh before Naminé's limp hand fell from his. When she didn't move, only stared blankly at the air in front of her, Sora's stomach twisted harshly. This was bad.

"You want to go home?" He asked softy. No response. "Naminé?" Nothing. "What's wrong with you? Is it something at home? You… You can come home with me if you like. I'll always protect you, remember?" He tried for another smile. Her tiny hands shook in his. Throat tight, he squeezed lightly them and softly said her name again. "Naminé?"

"I can't speak to you." Her voice was so very quiet, as far as it could be from the shriek she had let out before.

"What?" Sora half laughed the word, and the sound threw a sharp pain to the base of his stomach. "What do you mean, you can't speak to me? You just did!"

She shook her head violently. With a small, strangled sob, she ran, arms wrapped tightly around herself, over to the main islands.

Sora stared after her. Then he turned back to the sea, where nothing disturbed the still surface of the water. It looked wrong, next to the damp sand that formed in clusters over Naminé's picture.

He had no idea where she had gone, he realised. He could try her house, maybe, or…

Sora ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

Riku should be here by now. Sora was getting bored, he hated being down here on his own. Scooping a pebble in his hand, he stretched his arm back and flung it out to sea. It hit the water and immediately sank, leaving ripples in the surface like when the fish came by in summer. He couldn't skim stones. Riku had tried teaching him before, but his arm would shake and the stone would wobble and it always sank under the sea. Sora wondered what there was down in the deepest parts of the ocean, if civilisations existed as they did up here. Could fish speak once their heads bobbed under the surface? If so, could he learn there language and talk with them himself? He would love to talk to a fish. Riku would know what was down there.

Heavy footsteps clomping behind made Sora look around excitedly. He spoke with mock annoyance as he began to greet his friend. "You've taken _forever _Ri-"

Sora holds his head in tight, sweaty hands. His head throbs and he groans aloud as Goofy calls over to him, concerned. "Sora?"


	2. Snow Globes and Shadows

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

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><p>Kairi can feel the shadows. Sense them. She is being followed.<p>

She rests on the beach, the incoming tide beginning to lap at her feet. She pulls her legs inwards so that her body is scrunch into a ball. Her hair is spread across the ground, a veil obscuring her face. Ear pushed firmly to the ground, she shuts her eyes, and she listens.

Loudest is the sea. The low whooshing of waves, then the crash as they collide with the shore. Kairi does her best to block that out. She is listening for the other sounds, the gentle whispers beneath the deafening roar of the ocean.

Gulls. An alarm ringing somewhere on the mainland. A baby crying.

Footsteps.

Click, click, click.

Her eyes rush open, and she resists the urge to leap up. Click, click, click. Click, click, click. They're getting closer. Her fingers dig themselves deep into the sand. Click, click-

"Kairi?" Selphie was laughing. "What're you doing down there?" Skipping over, she fell down next to where Kairi laid and dropped a woven bag coated in folded cloth flowers.

Kairi pushed her self up. "Hey Selphie."

"So, why were you having a nap on the floor?" Selphie asked.

"It's comfortable." Kairi leant backwards onto her elbows.

"Okay," said Selphie, giggling. "Look what I got." She undid the buckle sealing her bag and removed from it a small object, perfectly spherical apart from a smooth, flat base. Little models stood inside, covered in glitter and sporting wonky, painted smiles. Selphie's expression was similar as she held it out in front of Kairi.

"It's a snow globe," Kairi said.

Selphie's grin fell a little. "Yeah, but look who's inside."

Kairi squinted.

The globe was forced into her face as Selphie yelped, "It's me and you, silly! My grandma made it. She's really good with crafts."

"Oh." Kairi supposed the pink, red topped blob did look a little like her. "Yeah, I see it."

Sighing, Selphie shoved the globe back into her bag. "Kairi, is something up?"

Kairi shook her head slowly.

"Are you sure? 'Cause you seem kinda-"

"I'm great, Selphie." Kairi displayed a false smile.

"Then stop treating your friends like we're messing up your day!"

She had already stood up before Kairi had drawn breath to apologise. She was glad. Kairi didn't at all like being made to apologise for things when she could see nothing done wrong. Hugging her legs to her chest, she breathed a deep sigh into her knees. There was a small rustle behind her.

.-****-.

Xion had grown to hate knowledge. It was her single greatest source of pain, and worse, lead her to act in the most ridiculously, impossibly stupid ways. If she was still perched at the top of Twilight Town's clock tower, snacking on sea salt ice cream and giggling with her friends, then she wouldn't have gotten caught up in any of this nonsense. She could have lived, just wonderfully, and had a perfectly tragic death after the Organization was through with her. But, no! That would never be enough for her. Nope. So she knew and she cared and now she had to help this stuck up, selfish, ridiculous girl sobbing to herself on the beach at dusk. Life was great.

Worse than knowledge though, was her determination to acquire it. It had gone beyond interest and rapidly turned into a death-wish. Curiosity did indeed kill the cat, or at least place it in situations of severe peril.

She had built a mental list of those she had to help; also a clear plan, with details on how to help them, in which order to help them, and how the worlds would likely react to their helping. Kairi didn't need help, but she was rather crucial in helping a significant player in this game.

Xion released a long and heavy breath, and pulled her hood across the top of her head so it hid her face. She stepped out onto the beach.

Kairi, for all her weaknesses, was supremely aware apparently. She span around to Xion's direction, throwing sand in a misshapen circle around her. Xion continued to walk towards her, crouching at her side. Another thing that Xion noted: Kairi did not back away, instead simply attempted to stare her out.

"Who are you? Why are you following me?" The girl's voice shook more than Xion thought she would have wanted it to.

Xion reached a hand out to place on Kairi's wrist; as soon as her hand touched down onto the bare skin, Kairi yanked her arm away as though Xion's hands were fire. "You want to see Sora again," she said.

"I don't know what you're talking about."  
>"Yes. You do. Sora. Your prince of light. The brilliant boy who would yank his own heart out to save you. The amazing, wonderful, <em>glorious<em> hero, who's name will be sung by age after age of creatures across all worlds. That shadow who'll whisper to you at night just before you go to sleep. High voice, spiky hair, nervous habits. _Sor_-ra."

Kairi whispered, "You know where he is?"

See, there it was. Pity. _Emotion_. Xion cursed it, her fake heart with its silly passions. Useful it was, it let her know peoples feelings about Sora, allowed her to trick them into thinking she knew their heart. But it made her forget those others who crowded it, throwing her back into her happier ice cream loving days. She despised it viciously.

Kairi sat, silently shaping her mouth around the two syllables of 'Sora.'

Xion's sigh was impatient. "You knew him. You don't anymore. Your memories were altered, and now you know that somebody existed, but you can't remember who."

"My memories were…_Why won't you show your face_?" Kairi reached out and grabbed at Xion's hood, but was swatted away by a firm, gloved hand.

"You need to come with me. You want to find Sora, and I can help you."

Kairi sat upright, and Xion rolled her eyes beneath her hood. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because it's me or nothing." Xion said simply. "If you don't help me, I can almost guarantee that you will never see Sora again."

"He'll be looking for me. He promised to-"

"He'll have forgotten. Right now he's likely sat in some distant world, rocking back and forth and mumbling the name of girl who can barely form sentences herself."

"I need your help because Sora is what ties everything together. And tying him together is you and Riku. I need you so I can everyone who's hurting." And her heart was burning, glowing just a little. "So come with me, or stay and wait with Little Miss Snow Globe." She almost felt guilty for that last part, but she remembered Kairi's earlier disdain for the girl in the yellow dress.

Kairi looked over Xion, examining her. She clenched her fists, nervous. She spent a terribly lengthy set of moments simply staring. And finally she nodded.

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><p>Authors Note: Yeah, so. I know Xion OOC right now. She's meant to be.<p>

Thanks for reading and please review!


	3. Unknowns and Princesses

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

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><p>Kairi was dragged into the dark by a firm hand. She screamed at the black, and Xion, again growing impatient, told her to shush.<p>

"Where are we?" Kairi began to say, but a bright glow lit in front of her. Drawn to it, she immediately stepped out towards it. Xion followed.

"I don't know," Xion said, apparently looking around. Kairi wondered if she could see from beneath her hood. "I haven't ever been here before."

"Well. Then take your hood off." Kairi made an effort for it to sound like a demand.

"It wouldn't do any good," Xion replied, seemingly completely unfazed by Kairi's tone.

"But I want to see your face."

"No."

"Why am I here?"

"Because I need you."

"Why?"

"Because you know Sora. And I need people who know Sora."

Kairi could have screamed in frustration. "But I can't even remember who Sora is!"

Xion turned her head to face her. "He can remember you. You can both help each other."

Kairi, deciding that this was getting her nowhere, took a look around her. She was entirely surrounded by thick, monstrous overgrowth, weaving messily around the fat, sturdy tree trunks that shot far above her. The ground was terribly uneven, layered with hundred of shallow puddles of dirty water. It was humid, and she could hear no wind, only the soft rustling of animals and low cawing of some unfamiliar creature. She could see no pathways leading from there, or anything at all other than the plant life.

"Is Sora here?" She asked, thing shake in her voice surprising her a little; she wasn't scared, not even nervous. Just uncertain.

"I dunno. We should look around." Xion ran, leaping along, hop stepping the little pools. Kairi tried to follow, soaking her legs in the murky water.

She called out, "Slow down!"

Xion looked around, and Kairi saw a brief, shadowy smile form beneath the dark of the hood. Xion waited until Kairi had caught up before setting off again, and this time ran much slower.

Finally the pair found an opening leading out of the labyrinth. The jungle thinned into, what seemed to Kairi to be a campsite. Dirty cream tents were scattered around the clearing, all of them rectangular and all of them open. They all appeared empty from where Kairi stood, aside from the occasional tatty wooden desk.

"I don't think there's anybody here," Kairi said, leaning to Xion as though whispering.

"No. I don't, either."

Kairi looked at her, annoyed.

Xion smiled and continued. "And no Heartless. There are usually Heartless in inhabited worlds. Especially where the Keyblade Master's running about, even if he's not an especially proficient Keyblade Master right now."

"Heartless… I've heard of them," Kairi said thoughtfully.

"Have you?" Xion asked. "Well good. That's something. Do you know that they are bad? And that if you see one you should come running to me, because of the two of us I'm the mist able to do something about it?"

"I can defend myself!" Kairi said, indignant.

"I have a Keyblade. You don't have so much as a wooden stick. Anyway, it doesn't matter because if they were going to come, they already would have. Kairi?"

Kairi returned importantly to Xion's side, carrying a large, and stupidly heavy, lump of wood. Xion sighed.

"Come on," she said, and Kairi followed, dragging her weapon across the ground and leaving a deep trail.

They walked.

"Where are we going now?" Kairi asked, panting from the heavy weight and wishing she'd found her weapon someplace where it was cooler; if the Evil World of Unstoppable Humidity existed, there ad to be an ice world somewhere, right?

"Just checking the rest of the world in case there's anything here that can help us. If you want to put that down, I can fight on my own just fine."

"You might need my help. I'm pretty sure this could kill something if it landed on its head. And I don't think there's anything here."

Xion stopped walking and swivelled around on one foot. "You don't? Please don't tell me you can sense it. Or is that some kind of magical Princess Power?"

Kairi paused. Princess Power? Something ran through the back of her mind, the Princesses of Heart, but it was blurry, like somebody had shaken up her memories.

Xion took a final glance around her, and sighed. "Fine," she said, "Let's go."

Kairi nodded eagerly, then said, "Wait, where?"

"Some other world," Xion answered.

Kairi looked down at her wood block. "Can I leave this?"

"Sure," Xion said, and opened a gateway in front of the two of them.

"Wait!" Kairi looked shocked. "I don't know your name!"

"You never asked," Xion answered. "You just kept wanting to see me. I was beginning to wonder why you were here."

Kairi didn't say anything.

"Xion," she said.

"Xion," Kairi repeated.

"Yup. Now come on. We've got worlds to explore."

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><p>Author's Note: That chapter was too short, but it just kind of ended and wouldn't let me write anymore. Some reviews would be lovely!<p> 


	4. Pirate Ships and Trips to Darkness

Disclaimer: I still do not own Kingdom Hearts

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><p>Roxas's chest aches terribly. His head pounds and his feet throb and his every inch of his skin burns terribly. He doesn't know where he is, surrounded by total inky darkness and not a sound to be heard from anywhere. His ears ring. He isn't certain that he can move. He hasn't drunk or eaten in who knows how long. But it's this terrible pain spreading through his chest that hurts.<p>

The Organization has abandoned him, informing him one sleepy morning that that he could no longer be trusted, that he was with _her, _and so couldn't be with _them_. He hadn't been sure who 'her' was, or why it was a bad thing to be with her. He didn't know now. But as the rest of Organization XIII had circled around him (at least, he remembered being surrounded by black; here the darkness had already settled about him) Axel had mouthed over to him, to run. He had trusted Axel. Axel had been his friend. So he ran.

He tries to think of Axel, sitting at the top of the tower with him. In his memories, icy cold would slip into his mouth and fall to rest in his stomach. He had loved that, he thought. You loved that, he insisted to himself. …He couldn't remember.

When he had run from the Organization, he had nowhere to go. He had stood, grasping for worlds where the Organization wouldn't find him. But he didn't know any distant worlds, he had always been sent places_ by_ them. Remembering Axel's insistence that he run, and his wondrous distraction to get him out (what had that been again; he couldn't think) he had hurriedly settled on a world he had been to only once, the Destiny Islands. He figured that the Organization didn't go there much, if he'd only been on one mission there. He had opened a gateway. Stepped into it, shaking.

And here was where he landed. The black black black. It hurt his eyes to look at, like when he stared at the sun. He remembered trying that once, just staring at that strange, bright circle in the sky. Shots of pain had stabbed at the back of his eyes, but he couldn't stop looking, not until, an apparently concerned, Axel had forced his head down to face the ground. Roxas doesn't understand why he can remember that, clear as anything right down to the dark spot that had seated itself in the centre of his vision afterwards, but not why it was good. It just seems painful. He decides that if anybody else is to try and break his neck, he will make note to be wary of them, and try to forget it. He certainly won't feel desperately inclined to go searching for them in pitch darkness.

He wonders where the sun is now, if there is a sun in this world and if it's just hiding. He wonders if the Organization took the sun from the World That Never Was. He thinks they did, that Organization XIII doesn't like beautiful things. The only light there he can think of was Kingdom Hearts, and that was never beautiful. He thinks he was scared of it. He wishes he could be scared now. He wishes he could be wonderfully happy or horribly miserable or whatever that wonderful feeling was that he felt when he had used to sit and eat ice-cream with Axel.

He falls down onto his back and all the air is thrown out of him. His breathing stays steady. His head still throbs. His skin still burns. His ears are still ringing madly. And the ache in his chest still refuses to go away.

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><p>Xion sat down on a sturdy lump of rock. They were in Neverland, and, as it turned out, Kairi was easily distracted. It was the pirate ship that stood at the distant edge of the world that she liked so, and before Xion had been given an opportunity to stop her, she was off talking. After twenty minutes of climbing across Neverland's rockier areas, Xion found that she would have easily have been able describe in miniscule detail every pirate related fantasy a young Kairi had ever dreamed up to any uninformed stranger of her choosing. She wished she could still fly around this place and get there faster so as to shut Kairi up, even if it would have meant carrying the other girl along with her.<p>

"And, me and Riku, that's one of my friends there, like I said, had this idea- ooh, ow!" she said, stumbling in a shallow ditch. She continued, unfazed, "We had this idea that we could leave the Islands together and go exploring. Well, it was his idea really. I think, I don't really remember." She paused, sighing. "But yeah… I guess that's what we're doing right now. And Riku disappeared as well. So I guess we both got what we wanted. But it's not as fun as I thought it would be."

Xion was sorry for her, really, but she couldn't help feeling that the girl was so flippant about all of this. The memory alterations didn't help her, and she had to be here for good reasons.

"Well," Xion said, "Here we are."

"Wow," Kairi whispered. "A real pirate ship."

"We're not looking around until tomorrow," Xion told her, beginning to climb down from the stone protrusion they stood on.

"Why?" Kairi called down, leaning over the edge.

"Because I'm tired. Get down here."

Kairi climbed down after her, but said "I'm not sleeping down here. What if someone sees us?"

"They won't. Good night."

Kairi looked around; night was indeed beginning to settle around her. She sat down, taking one last look at the pirate ship.

"It's beautiful," she said.

Xion looked up. Yes, she thought, it was rather.

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><p>Author's Note: Thanks for reading and please review. And thank you if you did review before, it was greatly appreciated.<p> 


	5. Lost Children and Disagreements

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me.

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><p>Xion woke before Kairi. She was woken by a strong gust of wind forcing its way across her face. Her hand clawed through her tangled hair and came out smothered in chalk. She wiped it down her leg, leaving a white smear on her cloak. New clothes, she thought, she really had to find something else to wear.<p>

Now that the sun glared into her eyes and the previous days fatigue had left her, getting into the ship felt urgent. Leaving the jungle, she had excepted that she needed help. She had found Kairi as easily as anything, but getting everybody else together would be difficult. And, well, she'd managed to wean _some_ information from Naminé, even if she had been a nightmare to talk to. Here was help, maybe; the witch's statement had been garbled.

She nudged Kairi hard in the shoulder, pushing on the soft space beneath the bone. Kairi mumbled something indistinct.

"Kairi," Xion said, the word soft but clear.

Kairi did not move.

Xion's voice lowered, turning harsh, "Kairi, get up, it's morning."

The sleepy girl's eyes fluttered open.

"I thought you were a dream," she mumbled.

"Nope," Xion answered, scooping her arm under the other girl's back and helping her up, "Not unless you're still dreaming. Which I guess you might be."

"I'm not," Kairi said firmly, climbing into a crouch and stretching to a stand.

"I'm glad to hear it." Xion was smiling. "Now let's get on this pirate ship."

"Let's." Kairi pulled herself back onto the rock that stood closest to the ship. Xion followed.

As Xion laid a foot on a rickety wooden bridge that had been tied to the entrance, Kairi, still standing behind, called out. "Why has it been left open like that?"

"It's fine," Xion said back to her.

"But it looks like a trap," Kairi said, following her nervously.

"Well if it is we'll fight them. Well, I will. You can run away. You should have kept your log."

Kairi said nothing.

"It'll be fine. No-one even knows we're here, nobody's going to try and trap us."

They both stood in the inside of the boat.

"It looks empty," Xion said, "Let's take a look around."

Kairi screamed.

"What? Kairi?"

"I- I'm fine," Kairi said, her voice shaking, "It- There's a kid down here."

Xion's followed Kairi's eyes to the far corner of the room. And sure enough, there sat the skinny, angular shape of a young girl. Her hair had been scraped backward into tight, neat little plaits, kept in place by a perfectly shaped bow. A dull blue dress rimmed with miniature felt daisies covered her torso and legs. Around her wrist hung a small charm bracelet. Legs hugged close to her chest, her eyes were pointed directly at Kairi and Xion.

"Hey," Kairi said gently, leaning down to the girl's height, pushing her own knees to the floor. "Are you alright? What are you doing here?"

Xion was disappointed. _This _was what she had come here for?

The girl spoke in a tiny, wobbling voice. "Waiting for Peter."

Kairi frowned. "Who's Peter? He shouldn't have left you here alone."

She shook her head. "He said he'd come back for me. He told me to wait here until he could get back."

Kairi looked over to Xion; her companion shrugged. Turning away again, she asked, "What's your name then?"

The child pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and began to nibble on it. "Dora," she said, her voice muffled.

"We can't leave her here."

Silence.

"Xion."

"What?" she said.

"We can't leave her here," Kairi repeated.

"She'll be fine. Peter'll be back for her soon."

Kairi glared.

"We're not taking her with us."

"But what if Peter doesn't come back?"

"You don't even know who Peter is. He might be her brother or something."

"Well let's look for Peter then."

"We don't have time!"  
>"Then let's take her with us."<p>

"It's dangerous."

"You dragged me along."

"You're not a six year old girl. Are you?"

"We'll look after her."

"We'll have enough trouble looking after ourselves!"

A voice interrupted them. "I want to go." Dora looked at the two of them with determination.

Xion sighed heavily. Well, she supposed, this girl had to be worth something or she herself wouldn't be here. "Come on then. Both of you."

Kairi said, "But what about Peter?"

"He won't come back, don't worry." Xion said.

"Didn't you want to look for something here?"

"Yes. It was her, I think," Xion told her, shooting a glance back at Dora.

Kairi moved closer to Xion so she could speak without the young girl hearing. "You came here looking for a little girl?"

"I came here looking for help," Xion answered. "I heard from somebody that someone was here and… I guess this is what they meant."

"So Sora won't be here?" Kairi had stopped walking.

"I doubt it." Xion turned around. Dora caught up and stopped by them.

"Couldn't we just take her home?" Kairi asked.

"She might not even be from this world."

"Then ask her."

"No. She might be useful."

"Oh, want to keep her now, do you?"

"Look, if we pass by some place and she says 'Oh look that's where mummy and daddy and I live' we'll drop her off. 'Til then, who knows?"

Xion left through a gateway, and Kairi followed, pulling Dora by the hand.

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><p>Author's Note: I know Dora's rection was kind of sudden. She has her reasons. So yay. Thanks for reading, and reviews are wonderful, wonderful things, so thanks if you left one, it was appreciated.<p> 


	6. Midnight Meetings and Missing Friends

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts

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><p>Naminé's back was resting against the wall, legs extended and arms holding her sketchbook close to her chest. She had been there for weeks, and she had scarcely moved from the spot. Getting up and moving around would have taken from her too much energy, and in that she was lacking. Besides, she had other far more important uses for that energy.<p>

Naminé did not know where Sora was. She did not know what he was doing and how her actions affected him. But everyday, she found herself painting days and etching moments new into his mind. Today, she had placed them in Sora's house. His mother collected unusual sea shells, kept them on a shelf in the kitchen. Sora loved them, would spend great amounts of time examining their details, and what Sora loved he had to show to Naminé.

She had been there with him, smiling, laughing excitedly as he held one to her ear so that she could hear the sea. Him telling her that the sound in shells was good, but that he liked the real ocean better. Naminé rests her head on her own shoulder and sighs happily.

Naminé heard the whoosh of an opening gateway, and was pulled out of her dream. A raven haired girl stepped out of it, hood down, looking tired with her hair scraped at all angles around her head.

Xion awkwardly placed a small bag next to Naminé; the sitting girl did not look at it. She hated Xion showing up when it was just supposed to be her and Sora. But her gaze turned upwards to Xion, and she nodded in greeting. Xion smiled briefly in response, and Naminé continued watching her, waiting for the other girl to begin speaking.

"Dora," Xion said. "You wanted me to find her. Who is she?"

Naminé smiled slowly and sadly. "She's special."

"Well, I guessed she was," Xion answered. "That's why you sent me to her, right?"

"She's connected to Sora-" Naminé started.

"Isn't everyone?" Xion interrupted.

"And she might be useful. I don't know. She was the only person I could think of who might help you."

"So I have this little girl following me around for nothing?"

Naminé did not answer. She lifted a hand to her mouth and began to chew on her thumb's nail.

"Is there anything else I need to know?" Xion said in a monotone.

"You already know most of it. Just keep looking, okay? He'll show up eventually and things will be okay."

Naminé smiled as Xion opened a gateway. Pulling her pencil out of her sketchbook's coil, she began to shape a new drawing on a clean page. Xion turned to her.

.-***-.

Kairi woke to Dora whispering in her ear, the tickling breath pulling her out of sleep. She sat up to smile at the young girl. Dora appeared worried.

"What's up?" Kairi said, her voice dragging a little where she was still sleepy. She didn't know where Xion had brought them to, but wherever it was it was absolutely freezing. Maybe that ice world she'd imagined a couple of days ago did exist after all.

"Xion's disappeared," Dora said, tugging lightly on the skirt of Kairi's dress.

Kairi felt sleep pulling at her, telling her that Xion's absence didn't matter and she should just fallback into it. Kairi was listening until the sound of an opening gateway reached her ears. Dora let go of Kairi's dress as the older girl flew upwards. Xion stepped out. Dora beamed.

"Where did you go? Dora just woke me up saying she couldn't find you!" Kairi said.

Xion placed a bag on the floor.

"You can't just leave us alone here when we're asleep!"

"I was getting food," she said, indicating the bag on the floor. "And you're perfectly safe here. But we have places to be." She turned to the tiny girl looking up at her in silence, who was still smiling. "Dora, are you ready to go?" she asked kindly.

"Yup. Where are we going?" Dora asked.

"Oh, a great world" Xion said. "I'm sure you're going to love it."

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><p>Author's Note: Sorry about how short that chapter was. It was really horrible to write for some reason. Anyway, the next one will be a bit longer, hopefully. And happier. I really need something happy in this story.<p>

Thanks for reading, reviews are always great things to get.


	7. Beaches and Bad Moods

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is still not mine

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><p>Xion exited the gateway, Kairi and Dora following. Her foot pressed into the sand, sinking into it so the point of her shoe was buried. She smiled faintly.<p>

Sora wasn't going to be there, she expected, though she promised to herself that she was here to check for him.

"Oh, it's lovely," Kairi said, using a slow, enthusiastic voice that was probably aimed at Dora. Kairi turned around to smile at the young girl.

Xion nodded. It was. She loved listening to the sea, the loud yet gentle sound of the waves hitting the shore, and loved even more just to watch it. Just then, though, the sea was calm and she could only hear the soft sound of the wind brushing lightly against it. The quiet made it no less beautiful. Back when she had been with the Organization, she had longed simply to stand by the ocean, and that longing had not left her.

Kairi called over. "Xion, come on, there's a load of mainland we can look over." She twisted her head over her shoulder. "Sora might be over there."

"Yeah. Let's just wait a minute before we go, okay?" Xion gazed out to sea, and crouched to rest her weight onto her knees.

Kairi frowned. "Why?"

"Because I want to sit down for a while."

"But what about Sora?" Kairi asked, though she began walking over to Xion. Dora did not follow.

"Kairi, he won't disappear. Just, come and sit here with me."

Kairi sighed and continued her way over. Noticing Dora had not followed, she went back and led her by the hand over to where Xion had now sat. Kairi slowly lowered herself to the ground next to the other girl.

"Why d'you want to stay here?" Kairi asked.

"I want to rest for a while."

"But we were just asleep," Kairi giggled.

"I wasn't. Anyway, it's beautiful here, don't you think?"

"I guess," Kairi answered. "I've spent half my life looking out to sea. But I always wanted to get out there."

Xion faced her. "I've already been made to see what's out there. Only I always wanted to stay and watch."

"Why are you here then? I haven't seen anyone making you look for Sora."

"I made a promise to somebody. And as it is, you don't know Sora any better than I do."

Kairi laid her head on her knees. "I know he was special. I know that he was my best friend and that I looked forward to seeing him everyday. Me, him and Riku."

Xion frowned at her. "I met Riku once. He was looking for Sora too. But I don't know what happened to him."

Kairi sat up. "You met him," she repeated "Oh, was he alright? Where is he, can we find him? What if he can help us?"

"I don't know where he is. And I don't need anymore people to go searching for."

"Xion, please-"

"If we find Sora, we'll look for him then."

"But we won't ever find Sora if we're just going to sit here instead of look for him-"

They were interrupted by a large splash that sent high ripples rushing across the smooth surface of the sea. They looked around to Dora, who already held another large pebble in her palm, arm held in a position ready to throw it. She was standing about a metre from the two of them, her face scrunched up.

"Dora?" Kairi said, concerned. Dora looked at her. "Hey, what's up?"

Dora chucked the stone outwards to the sea. "We've been sitting here ages. You said it'd be exiting here, but we haven't done anything."

"I didn't say it would be exiting." Kairi answered. "And we'll start searching for Sora in a minute, just like I said we would last night. But me and Xion want to stay here a minute, alright?"

Dora frowned. "You said it'd be dangerous, and that means the same thing as exiting. And why do grown-ups always wanna sit down?"

Kairi laughed. "Grown-ups! I'm only fifteen! And we'll do something exiting soon, I promise. Like I was telling you, Sora's a mystery. None of us remember him, but we're going looking for him so we can find out what he's like and if we need to do anything about him. He could be evil, for all that we know…"

Xion rested her head to the ground and listened. She tried focusing so she could only hear the sea's soft whisper, not Kairi's attempts to make their journey sound exiting to a young girl who didn't even need to be there. Or maybe she did. Who knew? She could feel the water hitting delicately against the soles of her shoes. She remembered beautiful dreams of this and merrily anticipating telling Roxas about them…

"Xion?" Kairi laid herself down next to Xion, turning her head to the same angle. She whispered, "I've got Dora to sit down, but she's still impatient. She kind of really wants to go and do something."

"Is she always going to be like this?" Xion asked, her voice muffled.

Kairi smiled and said, "Aw, she just wants something to do. She's young, she's just bored."

Dora apparently overheard, and interrupted, "I'm not young!"

Kairi sat up and grinned at her. "Of course you're not," she said, and Dora smiled while looking out to sea.

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><p>Author's Note: So, yeah, this chapter didn't really affect the plot much, but still, it made me feel better about Dora being there. Yay! More stuff will happen in the next chapter, though. Maybe not very exiting stuff, but stuff none the less. Well, probably. Unless it starts going off on some wierd tangent with unicorns and elves and evil porcupines while I write it. But I'll try my best to stop that from happening.<p>

Um, anyway... As usual, thanks for reading, I love reviews and you writing them makes me stupidly happy.


	8. Scrambled Memories and Failing Searches

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is not, and probably never will be, mine.

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><p>Xion was steadily growing more and more impatient. They had been searching this world for no great length of time, but it felt as though they had spent several millennia there. After spending that time there, they had, of course, found no trace of Sora. Xion had doubted his presence from the moment they had arrived, and then she was all but certain that he was not here. Kairi looked tired, and Dora had taken to repeated tugging on each of their sleeves for them to give her something to do but wander.<p>

"Kairi," Xion said, her expression caught somewhere between a heavy frown and a weary smile, "We should get going. Sora isn't here."

Dora nodded frantically in desperate agreement, and Kairi followed suit, though her movements were slower, sadder.

Xion raised a hand to summon an entrance to a gateway. Her hand lowered again as she realised she had no idea where they could go next. She knew other worlds, plenty of them; Agrabah, Halloween Town, Beast's Castle. But what if he turned out to not be in any of them? Dora would get tired of their dawdling, and dragging a sulky little girl with them wherever they went would not help them in the slightest. Kairi wouldn't leave Dora alone, and the other girl herself would begin to wonder when they would start making progress.

Xion decided it was worth disturbing Naminé again in order to find Sora. The memory witch was terrifically unhelpful if you caught her at a bad time, and these days hated to be around others at all unless it was for them to bring food, and Xion remaining on good terms with Naminé was essential if she wanted to help her. Surely she'd help if it were to find Sora, though? Xion wasn't so sure anymore.

"Okay, you two," she sighed, "I'm going to go meet someone quickly, try to figure out where we can go next. Just both wait here and I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?"

"Where?" Kairi asked, a frown forming on her face.

"Someone I know. She might help us."

Kairi's frown grew deeper. "Well, if she can help, why have we been going around wandering all this time? Couldn't you have asked her before?"

"I did. She's the one who led us to Dora."

"Oh, a great help then!"

"She's the only help we've got."

"Well, why can't she go?"

"I promised I would."

"Okay. But why?"

"Because she couldn't."

"Why can't she just tell you where he is if she knows so much?"

"She won't. She thinks she likes it the way it is."

"What? What does that _mean_?"

"She doesn't want things to change."

"So _why_ did you promise to_ find_ _Sora for her_?

"She has to change things back the way they were. Don't you want him back home?"

Xion had opened a gateway.

"Of course I do. More than anything. I spent days back home longing to know who the mysterious, wonderful lost boy was. But I don't understand why you want him there!"

"It's how things are supposed to be, when nobody is interfering. It's the only way Sora can do what everyone believes he is destined to do. It's what's _right_," Xion said, turning and entering the gateway.

.-***-.

Naminé's sketchpad rested lightly on her knees, tilting from side to side as she drew. Her and Sora, as always. Just another day they had once spent spent, lying together on the beach. Nobody else existed in their world anymore; anyone they had known had become nothing more than a distant dream.

When somebody entered, she did not pause in her sketching. Xion was a ghost, not worth attention, not there at all.

"Naminé," Xion said clearly. She was ignored.

Gritting her teeth, she repeated the name. "Naminé!"

Naminé's hand paused in its streaming above the paper, but she did not look up, or make any other action that acknowledged Xion's presence.

"Naminé, you know Sora better than anyone. Right now, you're the only person who knows him at all." She crouched to Naminé's height. "You're the reason he is wherever he is now. You must have some idea where he would go."

Naminé's face scrunched. "He's looking for me. I know that. But I don't know where he thinks I am."

"But doesn't he have any memories of looking for you?" Xion asked.

"I suppose so. But I don't change them, because then he won't ever find me," Naminé said, pulling her sketchpad tightly into her stomach.

"Well can't you just look to find out where he is?"

"Those memories are sad. I don't want to see him miserable."

Xion groaned in frustration. "But it could help me find him! You could tell me where he is. Or you could change his memories so he knows where you are!"

Naminé shook her head. "Those memories are too recent. There aren't any gaps in them, I would have to break apart chains that are already there."

"Then do that!"

"But then they would pass on to you, and I've done you too much damage already."

"I don't matter. It's Sora who has so much he needs to do! Anyway, the memories you took from everyone are already a part of me. I'm not myself anymore as it is, you won't do anymore damage."

"It might affect Roxas. And that would do an awful lot of damage."

"Roxas? What's wrong with Roxas?"

"He's okay, physically. His memories got a little scrambled when I did too much to Sora's. But he's safe"

Xion felt her body turn cold. "You did something to him?" she asked quietly.

"Not deliberately." Naminé answered softly. "And he's safe. He'll be fine as soon as you bring Sora back." She smiled faintly

"What if he isn't? He's a part of Sora. Can't you put his memories back in place?"

"All the memories he lost transferred to you. There a part of now. I can't take them away from you because they _are_ you. But if you find Sora, he'll be fine," Naminé repeated.

"No! Sora's important, but my friends come first!"

"Roxas will be fine."

"Stop saying that. If his memories aren't right and I bring Sora back without you helping him, then I'll never say goodbye to him, not properly."

Naminé did not answer.

Xion glared.

"I'm going to get him, " she said firmly. "And you are going to try and help him."

Silence.

Silence.

Naminé picked her pencil up from where she had placed it on the floor, and returned to her usual act of ignoring Xion's existence.

Xion, her eyes blurring a little, the warm liquid burning, left, with a last fierce and fiercely determined look at Naminé.

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><p>Author's Note: Okay, maybe I was pushing it when I said in the last chapter that stuff would happen in this one. It was less stuff and more stuff leading up to stuff. But that's still considerably more stuff than there was in the last chapter, where there was basically no stuff at all.<p>

As ever, thank you for reading and reviews will make me love you forever.


	9. Finding and Waiting

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me and it probably never will. If it did I probably would have sold it by now anyway.

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><p>The room is painfully bright, and the light seems to obscure all that is in it. Everything appears as a blur, surroundings faint, rough shadows standing in front of a dirty white background. Roxas makes a vague attempt to focus his eyes, and blotches of colour begin to dot across the room at random. It hurts his eyes, and unwillingly, he shuts them. The black of the insides of his eyelids is streaked with messy lines of dull blues and browns. He concentrates on them, and the ache in his head begins to fade.<p>

He is surrounded by silence. He is thankful for this. Noise always brings the hurting back. He never knows who is there, if they are harmless or if they have come to hurt him. It makes him think of fear.

He wishes he knew where he was, and he is terrified of ever finding out. He can't see it, he doesn't know if he knows it. He dares to guess that it is somewhere where he is, not in his imagination. Though if he cannot see or feel any of it, how can he know?

He longs to be told. Though he doesn't know who would ever tell him. There's not anybody here.

There are parts of his mind that he can never quite get a good grip on, like he were hanging on to them, desperate about to fall, and his fingers were coated in butter. Sometimes he will manage to keep hold, if only for a brief while. But he hates that too, because they always end up slipping away.

And sound reaches him again. Light, clinking footsteps click louder and louder as they near him. He thinks so, at least. Or maybe it is just another memory making a brief appearance in his consciousness.

.-***-.

Kairi's head fell heavily into her cupped hands as rain pounded down onto her. She shut her eyes and felt rain steaming down her face, then sliding into her hands forming a small puddle around her chin. Sat leaning against a building soaked from the rain, the water was beginning to seep through her clothes. She was freezing.

Xion had gone yet again, off into this strange, dreary world of imposing skyscrapers, decorated with glowing billboards eerily sparkling rain. Dora however, was standing with her, not wanting to sit on the floor and get herself wet. The young girl's dress had grown tatty, small tears forming at it's edges and a couple of the felt daises hanging on by only a single thread. Her hair had not been undone from her plaits, but they hung half-loose anyway, in straggly, thick tangles. She was frowning deeply as she watched Kairi.

"Why'd you shout at Xion like that?"

Kairi did not open her eyes. "I didn't shout at her." And she hadn't, not so much as raised her voice.

"You got mad at her. You went on for a good while."

"Well, we're supposed to be looking for Sora. And now she wants to find someone else, and I don't get a say in it. She's just left us here." Kairi started to play with the hem of her dress, rolling it from the bottom with two fingers.

"I don't know. I'm not here to find anyone. I just wanted to do something. You know, exiting. That's what Peter had said I could do, but he just left me someplace." She paused. "I guess that's what Xion just did. She'll probably come back though. And then you can both find Sora."

Kairi nodded unenthusiastically. "Maybe. But she's already said she doesn't know where he is."

Dora looked confused. "Well, yeah, that's why we're still looking."

Kairi didn't smile. "She doesn't care about finding _him_, though! She just wants to save her friends."

The younger girl's confused expression grew. "Isn't that what you're trying to do?"

Kairi's eyes opened as her hands fell loosely to the ground. She looked around to Dora. "She found me so we could find Sora. That's the only reason we're here. She said finding him would help everyone, that we could look for everyone else once we'd got him. I don't want to never find him. I want to know who he is and what he's like and why he was so special to me."

"Maybe you have to wait for Xion to do that, too."

Kairi rested her head sideways on her knee. "You don't know what it's like, waiting for someone you know exists but you can never quite hold on to. You're here for the adventure of it. It's not the same."

"You said that when you were younger, you always wanted to get off of your island, to go off on an adventure. I know what that's like, that's why I came. You said it would be exiting, just like Peter did. Maybe you should try to enjoy being away from your islands."

"I can't! Not when Sora might not be safe. I can't go off on some great adventure without my friends there."

"Aw, me and Xion count, don't we?" Dora smiled. "I think I should, at least."

Kairi made a great effort to return her smile.

"We'll find Sora. I know we will." She pushed her shoulders back impressively. "I make Xion promise it when she gets back."

.-***-.

Xion's hands trembled as she made to enter the room she knew had at least once belonged to Roxas. Her head felt as though it were being pumped with thick, warm liquid, and it made her dizzy. Outlines of her surroundings had begun to blur and shake, and she could barely make out the room's entrance. As she shakily opened the door, hearing no sound from its other side, she felt as though her body were only a shell, after all her insides had dropped out and run away.

The door slowly opened so that a sliver of the room became visible. Taking a long, deep breath, Xion pushed it the remainder of the way.

When she saw him, Roxas's eyes were held firmly shut. He was lying on his bed, and his hands gripped tightly to each side, dirty white sheet gathered within his them. His mouth was moving, as though he were talking to somebody, but there was total silence in the room. His shoulders continually clenched and relaxed, surrounded by a loose, tangled mess of blond hair. Xion's throat had clenched tight, and she found that for a few terrible moments she was entirely unable to speak. She simply watched him. He did not notice her.

Finally, after a thousand tiny moments of staring, she managed to squeak out the only thing she could think: "Roxas?"

His mouth stopped in its movement, and his hands clenched heavier at his bed sheets. But his eyes did not open and he made no sound. Xion repeated his name. "It's me. Xion," she said. A distorted mumble left his mouth, and Xion felt a slight shoot of relief run through her. She approached his bed and gently placed the palm of her hand on Roxas's fist. It tensed even more harshly than before, but Xion kept it in the position and slowly closed it around his.

Roxas seemed to struggle for a moment, and then his eyes steadily began to open. A wary smile appeared on Xion's face. He isn't okay, she told herself, he isn't okay yet. But another, sweeter voice murmurs, He could be, he will be.

"Roxas," she said softly, "I don't know if you understand what I'm saying to you, but we have to get you out of here. I gonna help you, you're going to be okay."

Roxas began to mumble again. Xion noticed that his eyes were pointed away from her, repeatedly tightening in a squint and she realised that he probably could not see her.

She opened a gateway about a metre from his bed. Scooping her arms underneath his body, one in the dip below his knees and the other resting below his shoulder blades, she tried to carry him over to the gateway. He was lighter than she had had expected, and he felt fragile in her arms, but it was still considerably more weight than she had grown used to holding. She stumbled a little on her way to the gateway.

"Whasgoongon?" Roxas murmured weakly.

"I'm going to get you to help. You'll be okay, Roxas. I promise," she said, and stepped into the gateway.

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><p>Author's Note: I don't know if I'm happy with this chapter. I might feel better about it when I get the next one written though, so... eh. If not I'll either rewrite it at some point or just pretend it doesn't exist.<p>

Thanks for reading (unless you skipped the chapter and went straight to the author's note, though why you would do that I have no idea). Reviews are, as ever, appreciated immensely, and when people leave them I become a very happy person. Thank you, as well, to the people who have reviewed already.


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